You may still be searching for yourself in the philosophical sense, but Web-trackers have already found you, in the data sense. And they've shared their findings.

All of your virtual activities are literally logged, compiled and sold by and to marketers. Some may call this a targeted pitch of advertising tailored to interest the individual. Others call it spying and an invasion of privacy. Those who consider it intrusive can take several steps to fly beneath the radar.

Most browsers offer "do not track" opt-outs in their privacy settings that make it possible to slash the number of sites tracking, bundling and selling your data with one click. They also offer add-ons that perform the same function.

Users would also be wise to set their preferences to block third-party cookies, even though that does not guarantee outside parties will comply, though.

Google was sued last year for circumventing Safari's settings that were, at least, meant to disable third-party cookies.

Another means is to visit and opt-out of major search engines, marketing sites and such sites as BlueKai, which sells user's information on stock market-like exchanges. But it's unrealistic to expect consumers to stalk every site that spies on them and configure their privacy settings for every device connected to the Web.

Mozilla users can track the trackers with the add-on Collusion, which shows the sites that are tracking you as a real-time web of shifting icons and lines, showing senders and receivers, that moves with your data. It reveals who is sending your information to whom - and to whom they are transferring it. Most users are surprised they're being followed by often at least 100 trackers.

A motivated privacy-monger could create a list of the sites revealed by Collusion, and, like a game of Asteroids, visit each and opt-out to blast them away.

There are also downloads. But, most privacy advocacy organizations agree, these tools are all party of a tit-for-tat tech war. The long-term solution, they say, will come from public pressure on companies and lawmakers.

(China Daily 05/12/2013 page3)